21ST - 23RD MAY 2015 · technologies can future proof your business. Some of the most widely...

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21ST - 23RD MAY 2015

@DesignInAction #scotdesign15

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I am delighted to welcome you to our second Design in Business Summit, and I hope you will enjoy and be inspired by the talks and workshops we have on offer. Our first Summit took place last year in Dundee, the home of Design in Action, and such was the success and support from the design and business delegates and speakers we were encouraged to think even bigger and bolder for our second event.

This year’s theme is design and technology and with our partners at Edinburgh College of Art, the Design in Action team has developed a programme that looks into the future of design, brings insights into how new technologies will affect business, and explores whether the adoption of design technologies can future proof your business. Some of the most widely predicted new technologies for business include Bitcoins, real-time mobile targeting, wearable technologies and virtual reality. The Summit will offer the opportunity to learn more about these technologies and discuss how design has influenced their development.

We will also be looking at how the adoption of design as a strategy can help integrate such technologies into industry, transforming consumer interaction and providing protection in the face of a rapidly-changing economic environment.

To highlight the value of design to business our chairman Sebastian Conran will present his Think Design booklet which we hope will encourage entrepreneurs to further embrace design as a strategy for their business and innovations.

As a new addition to the Summit, examples of design technology innovations will be on show in our marketplace in the main foyer. Amongst the exhibitors will be Design in Action Prize for Commercial Potential winners, Chiasma-funded projects and support agencies for business, design technology and innovation. So please do visit during the breaks.

We hope you will learn more about design and technology, be inspired to apply design to your business, meet new people and build your networks throughout the summit.

Best wishes,

Prof. Georgina Follett, University of DundeeDirector, Design in Action

DESIGN IN BUSINESS SUMMIT:THE SCOTTISH DESIGN SUMMIT 2015

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Madeline Ashby

Bio

Madeline Ashby is a science fiction writer, strategic foresight consultant, and immigrant living in Toronto. She writes a column for the Ottawa Citizen. Her short fiction has appeared in Nature, FLURB, Tesseracts, Imaginarium, and Escape Pod. Her other essays and criticism have appeared at BoingBoing, io9, WorldChanging, Creators Project, Arcfinity, and Tor.com.

Madeline will be providing the keynote talk on the evening of Thursday 21st May as part of the pre-Summit event ‘Once Upon a Future’.

Q. What areas of your work do you feel should be invested in the most?

I think using narrative and storytelling -- which is to say, using the faculties of the imagination -- for foresight and design is a fundamentally liberating practise. I’ve done bunches of workshops with people who never tell stories in their daily life, who are intimidated by writers and other creative people, and suddenly when you ask them to make up a story, they blossom. It’s beautiful. And I want more people to experience that moment.

Q. What do you think are the biggest barriers to innovation and how can these be overcome?

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. You can have a great idea, and a fantastic team, but if the institutional culture is against you, you’re going to have a tough time. Why? The most damaging idea in this world is that nothing changes. Or that change is impossible.

Q. What does the future of design look like to you?

Magic. Hauntedness. As the interface recedes, and as all our material culture becomes “smart” or at least networked, the world starts to look a lot more like a haunted house, or a fairy tale castle.

Q. Who are your design / business / tech heroes?

I’m grateful for the work of Cory Doctorow and Bruce Sterling. And I’m really envious of projects that my friend Scott Smith has gotten to work on. And I really wouldn’t be here without Brian David Johnson and Genevieve Bell, over at Intel Labs.

Q. What’s your favourite piece of technology that you’ve owned?

I have nothing but love for my Macbook Air, but in terms of value for money, I adore my Clarisonic. It does for the skin what a sonic toothbrush does for the teeth. It’s a very weird little device, and I know I sound vain for loving it so much, but it really fixed my skin. As a kid I was teased for getting acne before all the other kids in my class. I think our technologies can do a lot for us in terms of convenience and connection, but very few of them can actually make us any healthier, or help us feel genuinely better about ourselves.

Once Upon a Future was a two-part evening of stories from the future produced by Design Informatics and Creative Edinburgh.

Like Roy Batty, many of our speakers have seen things that will be part of our everyday in the near future. From Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, to c-beams that glitter in the dark, a host of short stories have given us an insight into how unevenly distributed the future really is.

Part two involved a much deeper journey across time from Madeline Ashby, science fiction writer and strategic foresight consultant, who provided us with a delve into Gothic Futures.

Located in the Warburton Gallery, within the prestigious Grade A listed India Buildings, on Victoria Street the evening provided a provocative networking event for Scotland’s art, design and technology communities. Illustrations by Kevin Allen featured throughout the night depicting dark scenes of the future alongside dry ice machines, music, gin and canapés!

Once Upon a Future Warburton Gallery, India Buildings, Victoria Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2EX 21 May 4-7pm

Part One 4 - 6pm

Quick fire talks and networking from our speakers:

• David Cleaves Creative Director at Frog Design, Munich.

• Jamie Coleman Managing Director of CodeBase

• Don McIntyre Programme Director / Creative Technologist at Glasgow School of Art’s Institute of Design Innovation.

• Ruth Aylett Professor of Computer Sciences in the School of Maths and Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University.

• Claire Stewart Director of Electric Bookshop

• Anna Day Manager of UNESCO, City of Design, Dundee.

Part Two 6 - 7pm

Keynote talk from Madeline Ashby

Schedule

Event sponsored by Skills in Action and thanks to Stag Barbers for providing our special storytelling chair.

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Event Map

Creative Mornings

Winston

Eilidh Price

Emma Cantlay

Interface Space Budgie

Jamie King

Revo

Scottish Enterprise

H&I Enterprise

A Fox Wot I Drew

Royal Society of Edinburgh

scrAPP Book

IBM

Nautilus Beam Ltd

Innovation Portal

Think Design

Registration Desks

Table Farm

MORRISON STREET ENTRANCE

Entreprenuerial Spark (TBC)

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DESIGN IN BUSINESS: THE SCOTTISH DESIGN SUMMIT 2015

Edinburgh International Conference Centre • 22nd May 2015

8.00 – 9.30 Registration and tea and coffee (Strathblane Hall)

9.30 – 9.40 Introduction to the event - Kate Russell (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

9.40 – 10.10 Jason Bruges – Bruges Studio (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

10.10 – 10.40 ‘Design for Europe – John Mathers: Design Council (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

10.40 – 11.00 Watson Technology – Alice Keating-Withers, IBM (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

11.00 – 11.30 Break for refreshments and Creative Edinburgh Speed Networking workshop (Strathblane Hall)

11.30 – 12.30 Workshop sessions

Workshop 1 – Puffer Fish (TBC) (Strathblane Hall)

Workshop 2 – Blockchain – Dug Campbell (workshop and talk) (Strathblane Hall)

Workshop 3 – Talking Things – David Cleaves, Frog Design (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

12.30 – 13.15 Buffet lunch (Strathblane Hall)

13.15 – 14.00 The Future of Design Innovation and The Circular Economy – Giraffe Innovation (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

Introduction – Caroline Parkinson Think Design – Sebastian Conran (Lomond Suite, Kilsyth)

14.00 – 14.45 ROLI – Roland Lamb (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

Design Innovation in Branding – Mark Beever, 999 Design (Lomond Suite, Kilsyth)

14.45 – 15.30 Designing in the Grey Goo – Nelly Ben Hayoun (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

Richard Hewitt - Taylor Haig (Lomond Suite, Kilsyth)

15.30 – 16.00 Break for refreshments (Strathblane Hall)

16.00 – 16.30 View from the panel, introduced by Kate Russell, chaired by Chris Speed, panel consists of Nelly Ben Hayoun, Alice Keating-Withers, Roland Lamb, David Cleaves, Jason Bruges, John Mathers (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

16.30 – 17.30 Ministerial Address and Q&A – Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

17.30 – 17.50 Conclusion from Kate Russell (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

17.50 – 18.00 Vote of Thanks – Georgina Follett, Director of Design in Action (Lomond Suite Tinto & Moorfoot)

18.00 – 19.00 Drinks reception – Informal speech from Michael Marra, Deputy Director Design in Action (Strathblane Hall)

19.00 Carriages

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Bio

Kate Russell is a journalist, reporter and author who has been writing about gaming, technology and the Internet since 1995. Best known for weekly appearances on BBC technology programme Click, she is a frequent face on TV, radio and in magazines as a technology expert, with regular columns in National Geographic Traveller and BBC Focus. She is author of two books; Working the Cloud, a business book about the internet and Elite: Mostly Harmless, her debut science fiction novel based in the gaming world of Elite, which achieved over 400% of its funding goal on Kickstarter.

Kate will act as compere at the Scottish Design Summit on 22nd May.

Q. Tell us, in your own words, about yourself and your work.

I’ve been a journalist, reporter and author writing about technology and the Internet since 1995. I’m probably best-known for weekly appearances on BBC technology programme Click, and I am a frequent face on TV, radio and in magazines as a technology expert. I also speak regularly at technology events and conferences and in schools and universities, inspiring (I hope!) the next generation of technologists, and I like to get involved in UK and global policy meetings to help shape the way the internet is governed. This year my blog, http://katerussell.co.uk, was winner of the UK blog awards for best individual digital and technology blog.

Q. What areas of your work do you feel should be invested in the most?

The thing I really love doing is writing, and I put the most time and effort into that – although ironically it is probably the part of my work that pays the least!


Fear is the biggest barrier to innovation. People fear what they don’t understand, and true, life-changing innovation will be unknown to all but a handful of people until it is rolled out for mass adoption. I also think overuse of the word ‘innovation’ in press releases and marketing materials referring to products that are in no way innovative, can water down our perception and lower expectations. I would like to see people fined for marketing something as innovative when it is not!


People want to feel like they are part of their world, and have had some influence over its design and function rather than just being tenants. It’s all about ‘mass customisation’ to make things personal, yet still affordable. In the future, wearable technology will continue automating that processes, so that the environment truly belongs to the people who use it on a very personal level.

Q. What new or upcoming technology are you most excited about at the moment?

As a broadcaster, virtual reality headsets becoming affordable and usable offers very exciting opportunities to tell stories in new and immersive ways. I also think that (used in the correct way) the proliferation of tracking technology that we routinely carry around with us (fitness trackers, smartphones etc.) and the vast data they produce could be used to manage burgeoning populations in cities and towns to run them far more efficiently, cutting costs and improving things like travel time and the provision of public services.


I can’t deny I love my smartphone (actually I love all of them.. and I have 4!). When I started in business there were no mobile phones even, and I had to navigate across multiple pages in an A to Z to find my way across London. I cannot imagine going back to that now!

Kate Russell

Bio

Following his ‘Leading Business by Design’ talk at last year’s event, we’re thrilled to welcome back Design Council CEO, and fellow Scot, John Mathers. In his role of CEO, he is leading the Design Council into the next chapter from a rich history that dates back to 1944. Champions of great design that can improve people’s lives, their work places design at the heart of creating value by stimulating innovation in business and public services. With over 30 years experience working in the brand and design industry, John has led a number of marketing, brand and design consultancies in the UK and Internationally, as well as holding roles within FMCG and retail, including Head of Brand at Safeway. Prior to joining the Design Council, John was International CEO at the Holmes and Marchant group and previously had 10 years at the helm of the Brand Union, WPP’s flagship brand design agency. Over the last decade, John has been actively committed to the development of the design industry, serving as President of the DBA (Design Business Association) for three years.

Tell us, in your own words, about your role and your organisation.

At the Design Council my role is to steer us to become a successful and self-sustaining charity. We’re 70 years young this year and there has never been a more interesting and tumultuous time for design. It’s also about bringing together the expertise and strengths from the Design world and the architectural and built environment world ( We merged with Cabe recently ) to bring about an organisation with a unique presence and set of skills, operating on a global stage.

What areas of business do you feel should be invested in the most?

My biggest concern currently is the skills gap that is developing. As more and more organisations understand and embrace the design skills that bring organisations and customers together the need for highly trained designers to come through our education system is going to increase exponentially. The need for governments to understand that concentrating on STEM skills alone is not the answer..

What do you think are the biggest barriers to innovation in industry and how can these be overcome?

The biggest single barrier is the phrase ’This is the way we’ve always done things’. We need genuine innovation in areas that are critical to the future success of our nation …. In the likes of construction, in automotive, in aerospace, in high value manufacturing and in the use of technology to throw old models out and create new paradigms.

What does the future of design look like to you?

Rosy, scary but exciting.

What new or upcoming technology are you most excited about at the moment?

The internet of things is going to produce ways of living our lives that will be as huge as the mobile revolution of the last fifteen years has been.

Who are your design / business / tech heroes?

My design heroes are the people, too many to name, who get the idea that the application of design can genuinely change lives for the better.

What’s your favourite piece of technology that you’ve owned?

My current favourite piece of technology is Spotify and Sonos … anything I want to listen to, anywhere, anytime. I’ve recently recycled all of my old CD’s.

John Mathers

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Bio

Rob is a familiar media face in design and sustainability and best known for presenting Channel 4’s Dumped TV programme where 11 unsuspecting contributors signed up for an eco-challenge only to be told they would live of a landfill near East Croydon for 3 weeks!

Rob co-founded Giraffe Innovation Ltd in 1998 specialising in eco-design and life-cycle assessment. Giraffe was described by The Guardian newspaper business pages as ‘one of the UK’s top green businesses’ and by The Manufacturer Magazine as ‘Britain’s leading eco-design consultancy’. Rob has worked internationally on eco-design projects and Giraffe’s work with Virgin Atlantic recently won a DBA Gold Design Effectiveness Award.

Q. What areas of your business do you feel should be invested in the most?

Without doubt the most important part of any business is its people. The quality and experience of the Giraffe team is what sets us apart from the competition and also from the internal skills of our clients.

Q. What do you think are the biggest barriers to innovation in industry and how can these be overcome?

Innovation is largely about minimising risk. Managing the process of gaining market/customer/technology insights and being able to synthesise these within a new or current business is a big challenge. It’s easy to say ‘If it ain’t broke, break it’ but in reality it’s about knowing when to ‘stick to your knitting’ and when to challenge entrenched internal and industry views and develop new business models. This often requires the flexibility to have multiple innovation projects and a balanced portfolio of risk in innovation projects. Most innovation projects fail, most ideas don’t work, most projects fail. Picking the winners is the biggest challenge!


Design is largely about understanding context and generating ideas that ‘fit’ this context: to a technological capability, to an incipient demand, to a cultural trend, to a wider context of economics, politics, legislation. We see ‘Design’ as a central part of the innovation process. Design is a verb within which the specific design disciplines and

tactical activities sit. The future of designers has to be as system integrators – using the ability to synthesis and deal with ambiguity to feed the innovation/renewal process. Designers have to be as much connected with society and technology as the requirements of business. Great designers such as Charles and Ray Eames understood this. However, Victor Papenek also highlighted that designers can either be the most dangerous of ‘professions’ or the most powerful.


There are numerous technologies that could revolutionise the way we live and work. This includes; battery technology for storage (renewables), graphene, 4 D printing, conductive textiles and augmented reality.


I don’t like the phrase ‘heroes’ to describe designers – their ego’s are big enough as it is! However, there are a number of people that have had considerable influence on the way I think and run my business. Prof. David Walker – the co-founder Giraffe Innovation along with his colleagues Naomi Gornick and the late Dr. Bill Hollins were central to my understanding of design during and after my Master degree at Brunel University.

There is a long list of incredible people that I admire and have been influenced by for many different reasons: Buckminster Fuller, Akio Morita (Sony), James Dyson, Charles and Ray Eames, Art Fry (3M), Clayton Christensen (Disruptive technologies), Peter Senge (learning organisation), Nicholas Negroponte – the MIT Media Lab, Prof. Bruce Archer (RCA), Prof. Walter Stahel – The Performance Economy, Paul Hawkins, Claude Fussler, Amory Lovins, Michael Braungart, Ernst Von Weizsacker and anthropologists Mary Douglas and Daniel Miller.


All the toys I wasn’t allowed to have or didn’t exist when I was a boy but can own by pretending they are for my sons –Scalextric, Xbox 360, Nerf guns. The best product I have bought recently is the Bradley watch. Shows that inclusive design is good design that can be desirable for everyone. It’s also easy to forget just how revolutionary the original Blackberry was.

Prof. Rob Holdway FRSA Director, Giraffe Innovation Ltd

Company Bio

As Edinburgh’s creative network, we are committed to advancing the value and impact of our creative talent, both locally and internationally. We work together to help our individuals and businesses create, collaborate and stay connected at every stage of their careers.

Our members meet and mix through a busy programme of events that inspire new ideas and create valuable connections across disciplines and expertise. Sometimes in the most unexpected ways.

Everything we do is shaped by what our members tell us is important to them, with our programme of mentoring and skill sharing opportunities designed to help creatives build and enhance their skills, and strengthen what they do. We collaborate with business, tech, academia and other communities to nurture and spark innovation across industries and trigger a variety of opportunities for our network.

We believe we can achieve more by working with others, and are delighted to be working with Design In Action for The Scottish Design Summit this May. Exploring how design will impact and accelerate an exciting new era of ‘business’ - authentic, user driven and with social purpose/ accountability. In the future, there will be a plethora of new technologies to reimagine and disrupt ‘business’ as we understand it now, but it is of most interest to us and our network to see how we can harness these advances for good.

Creative Edinburgh

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Bio

Dug Campbell runs the Scottish Bitcoin Meetup and founded the Scottish Bitcoin Conference. After spending 13 years working as a lawyer to technology startups and investors, he picked up an MBA from Edinburgh University before setting up his own digital strategy consultancy and going on to work with clients such as Skyscanner. Recently, he’s been working as Product Manager at miiCard, a digital identity startup whilst in his spare time, he is a keen blogger (www.dugcampbell.com). His real passion however is bringing people together to explore how the blockchain could change everything.

Dug will be delivering an interactive talk on Blockchain during the Design Summit on 22nd May.

Q.Tell us, in your own words, about yourself and your work.

I’ve always been an early adopter. As long as I can remember, I’ve found myself fascinated by two key areas: how human relationships will be forced to evolve as technology continues to tighten networks around the globe and how the increasingly frictionless exchange of information will shape our daily lives in the future.

Consequently, I’ve always found myself digging through a lot of wacky ideas and trying to identify global trends that are likely to have the greatest impact. But when I came across Bitcoin, it was way beyond anything else I’d ever seen. Like unpeeling the layers of an onion, every time I dug into one area, it revealed a hidden door to five more that needed further investigation. I fell head-over-heels down the rabbit hole and I’ve never looked back. I’ve never come across a technological advancement that has such wide-reaching potential to restructure almost every aspect of society and business.


When it comes to the blockchain, the biggest issue has to be education. Online resources have improved but there is still plenty of inaccurate information out there - partly because historically the topic was too complex for the press to report stories succinctly. However, we’re also seeing a dearth of designers and quality UX input within the nascent Bitcoin scene. Think of the first browsers that appeared online. It’s feels that we’re in a similar stage of development within the ecosystem now and some quality design input is badly needed in general across the industry.

Q.What do you think are the biggest barriers to innovation in industry and how can these be overcome?

In my view, the biggest barrier to progress remains the same no matter what the venture or industry - being scared to embrace failure. However, in the Bitcoin sphere particularly, there is a risk that governments around the world will attempt to introduce regulations that will hamper innovation by misunderstanding that this is a platform technology that goes far beyond ‘simply’ being a new form currency. Again, the answer lies in education.


From my non-design background, my instinct is that the future revolves around designs that are increasingly crowdsourced at the outset and thereafter far more responsive to the context in which each individual experiences them.

Q.What new or upcoming technology are you most excited about at the moment?

Blockchain technology is massive and excites me more than anything else put together - just thinking about how this could provide the much-needed backbone for the Internet of Things to scale effectively and also the potential for machine-to-machine commerce are two huge areas alone.

Q.Who are your design / business / tech heroes?

No surprises here: Jony Ive and James Dyson for design, Branson for irreverence and delegation and Elon Musk for repeatedly raising the bar of possibility higher than anyone else. Also, in all seriousness, anyone who’s managed to grow an idea into something that provides others with a source of income whilst improving others’ lives along the way.

Q.What’s your favourite piece of technology that you’ve owned?

In terms of direct impact on my life, undoubtedly my first generation iPod. Clunky by today’s standards perhaps but all the way back in 2001, it was a object of utter beauty that made daily life for a music addict so much easier - no more travelling with 200 CD’s on the passenger seat of the car during long journeys!

Dug Campbell

Bio

David Cleaves is an Executive Creative Director at frog with over 15 years’ experience delivering market- leading digital strategies and experiences. He has overseen large recent engagements with Delta Airlines, Volkswagen, Audi, Carpooling.com and other leading brands. In the past year, the focus of his work has been on designing connected, data-driven experiences both inside the home and outside it, in the urban landscapes where we live in and the modes of transportation we use to navigate them. He has spoken recently on these topics at the “Return on Innovation” conference in Newcastle, at Munich Creative Business Week, at the Hamburg Aircraft Interiors show, and most recently at Digital Shoreditch in London. He makes his home in Munich, where he leads the creative team in frog’s original studio.


I think we all see and feel that we live in a time of accelerating change in the world around us—technology is pulling us closer together, while at the same time, cultural and political forces seem to be pulling us apart. At frog, we get to have a small hand in shaping these changes, and I personally find that both inspiring and a big responsibility. I want to make sure the future we design is one that we really want to live in. At the moment, our Munich studio, where I lead the creative team, is doing a lot of work with connected environments (home, car, city) and with Unified Communications. Ways to bring people closer to each other and to the world around them.


The most important areas we invest in at frog are our own people and our clients. With our clients, we’ve started investing in some them directly through our frog Ventures initiative, and we can do a lot more there, especially here in Europe.

www.frogdesign.com/platforms/frogventures.html


We all love to throw around the catchphrase ‘Fail Fast’ when pitching innovation projects to clients, but it’s much much easier said than done. Most large companies are designed to build moats and walls around existing technologies and businesses, not to tear them down or turn risky new ideas into future businesses. Finding the courage—and the institutional support—to do something really new is hard and rare.

Q.What does the future of design look like to you?

Ha! That’s a big question. One trend I do see continuing is that we will be designing systems where the visible, tangible components are few and simple. The mantra of ‘make it invisible’ is coming true more and more, and I see our designers spending more of their time crafting the rules of how a system behaves than designing what it looks like.


I’ve been thinking a lot about future mobility lately, and I’m excited about the Hyperloop in California. It’s a long shot, but pretty exciting. One area in great need of redesign at the moment is the idea of citizenship. We see it in the Mediterranean or on the US-Mexico border, and at frog we struggle with it when we assemble global teams. Our old-fashioned idea of national citizenship will be redesigned in the future.


As a kid, I loved reading about Thomas Edison and other inventors. I would say artists like Andy Warhol or designers like Yves Saint Laurent were pretty heroic in their day, and helped shape our culture.


I hate saying this, because it sounds a bit sappy, but my favorite piece of machinery I own is my grandfather’s 1956 stainless steel Rolex Perpetual Datejust. It’s self-winding, it’s been ticking for almost 60 sixty years now without a visit to the repair shop, and every time I look at it, I remember my grandpa, a scientist who loved technology and loved me.

David Cleaves Frog Design

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Bio

Roland Lamb is an award-winning designer and entrepreneur. At eighteen he moved to a monastery in Japan to practise Zen Buddhism, and then traveled extensively, working as a visual artist and jazz musician. A passion for cross-cultural thought brought him to Harvard, where he concentrated on Classical Chinese and Sanskrit philosophy, before studying in the Design Products department at the Royal College of Art.

He is the founder and CEO of Dalston-based startup ROLI, and is the inventor of the Seaboard GRAND - a musical instrument that re-imagines the keyboard as a sensitive, soft three-dimensional surface that enables unprecedented intuitive manipulation of the fundamental characteristics of sound. ROLI, whose mission is to create new interfaces that expand the bandwidth of interaction between people and technology, has secured Series A funding totalling $16.5m from leading investors, including Balderton Capital, FirstMark Capital, Horizons Ventures, Index Ventures and Universal Music.

The Seaboard GRAND was recently awarded the Design Museum’s Design of the Year award in the Product category. He was also the recipient of the Swarovski Emerging Talent Medal at the 2014 London Design Medal Awards. He and his wife, the novelist Tahmima Anam, live in East London with their son, Rumi.

Roland Lamb

Today Design in Action will launch the THINK DESIGN campaign, beginning with a think piece by our Chairman, the designer Sebastian Conran. The campaign aims to inform and is also intended to inspire businesses and public services to think design first.

THINK DESIGN opens with a definition of design, and Sebastian explains his approach to design and his methodology. He sets out examples of design impact in business and calls for entrepreneurs and support agencies to grasp the potential of what design can do for the Scottish economy;

‘Imaginative, outstanding design can leverage and multiply excellence and success from your business. Understanding and embedding an early stage design process and strategic creative thinking can bring huge benefits to Scotland’s businesses, and to bring to the world market successful innovations.’

An advocate of accessible, democratic design all his life serving satisfying products to customers of Mothercare to John Lewis, Conran’s equation for success is quite straightforward: aim to create real value at every stage of the innovation cycle. His 3F [Form Follows Fabrication] approach acknowledges that most successful designs are a result of how they are manufactured, but keeps the user in front of mind and ensures that all challenges are met with elegantly simple solutions.

‘There is a clear business case for using Design Process and Creative Thinking tools in the early stage concept phase for multiple reasons, including: more innovative and appealing products, simpler manufacturing, quicker responsiveness, and shorter product-development timescales. All of which leads to greater customer satisfaction, product resilience, less aftersales resource and ultimately better profitability.’

The forefront of our campaign is to encourage business leaders to think about design as the way to bring ideas to successful realisation, to evolve products and services, and to solve problems in your business, and to think design before setting out on those journeys, as it will make all the difference to the outcome.

As Sebastian puts it, ‘Don’t leave it too late; design isn’t just the marketing, graphics and logos, wrappers and websites, posters and packaging – although it is towards the end of the process - during the innovation cycle design needs to be the first thought as well as the last, and business leaders need to focus on getting the right people in the right place before setting off on the innovation journey.’

We hope that Sebastian’s think piece will provide insight into a designer’s approach to realising new ideas, responding to clients’ needs, and meeting and surpassing the expectations of users – your customers.

THINK DESIGN.

Think Design A Think Piece by Sebastian Conran, Chair of Design in Actionby Caroline Parkinson

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Bio

Alice Keating-Withers has worked for IBM for the past 3 years, after graduating with a Physics degree from The University of Leeds and working for a short period in engineering. She currently works in the IBM Watson team, where she works closely with organisations who want to go to market with their own ‘Powered by Watson’ cognitive applications. IBM Watson is a cognitive system enabling a new partnership between people and computers.


I currently work as a IBM Watson Ecosystem Business Development Manager. The Watson Ecosystem is a program intended for companies interested in embedding IBM Watson cognitive technology into their own offerings to create transformative cognitive applications. I am responsible for targeting and recruiting new strategic partners, from start-ups to enterprise clients. I love supporting and helping to influence Watson Ecosystem partners with the design and strategy for their next generation applications, helping to drive innovation across multiple industries.


From my non-design background, my instinct The IBM Watson group is focussed on developing and building cognitive applications and solutions. I think all organisations should think about how they can incorporate cognitive technology into their business. It’s a disruptive technology that offers huge opportunities, enabling better data- driven decisions and acting as a differentiator in the market.


For many industries embracing new technology and trying to develop innovative ideas can quickly become overwhelming. Too many ideas can often create a barrier to innovation. Ideas become bigger and bigger and industries get stuck in the ideation phase, with confusion on where it may be best to start. I think it’s important to start simple, pick the idea that is straightforward but is still going to have a disruptive impact and will give you a good base to grow from.


The IBM Watson team puts a huge focus on research and development and more cognitive technologies are in the pipeline. The Watson technologies that are currently available are just the tip of the iceberg! It’s going to be exciting to see what increasingly innovative applications the IBM Watson clients and partners are going to be able to create in the near future.

Alice Keating-Withers IBM

Bio

Mark Beever is Director of Innovation at 999 Design. A multi-disciplined designer with 17 years’ international experience, he works with 999’s London and Glasgow studios to deliver rewarding brand experiences across all channels. Mark’s professional development has seen him take on everything from the worlds of art practice, publishing, retail engagement, Olympic public consultation to diverse projects about the future of design.

Q. Tell us, in your own words, about yourself and your work

Many years ago, I began my studies as an artist (with a strong side interest in technology) which taught me about jumping across and connecting disciplines and seemingly different fields of creative practice. Subsequently working as a publisher brought insight about new techniques of storytelling and how to engage people. Having then gone on to work as a designer on projects as diverse as the design of the public consultation for the Olympic Park, to building first steps in connected retail provides the challenge to look beyond fences and open up barriers to build solutions with impact and capacity.


Within the beating heart of our business, we prize an open, questioning, discursive, learning culture. This enables our team to challenge each other and our clients, as well as developing new and positive market engagement. Experimentation and pushing beyond the already known is critical for the brands we work for to evolve their positioning, to be noticed and to be memorable.


Someone’s unwillingness to be open can sometimes feel like the biggest barrier. However, barriers often represent opportunity - they’re one of the elements we look for when unpacking the real brief - breaking through these barriers marks the success of an innovative creative culture. Barriers can come from anywhere - sometimes they’re obvious, like clients’ budget or timescale, and sometimes they appear as the process develops in the form of a cautious company board or a lacklustre brief -

critically we are good at listening and probing for the reasons behind any obstacles, the subsequent exploration enables new perspectives on the issues and enables new approaches brimming with effective potential solutions.


Over three decades in the business means we’ve seen a lot of change and we’re proud to have been at the forefront of some it too. We’re very conscious that the future comes out of what we do today rather than imagining what might happen in the future. Every day is about creating something genuinely new - that could be evolving a new process, developing new awareness, or exploring the potential of an unexpected technology.


We are as interested to look back to see what we can use in new ways, it’s easy to leap onto the latest technology. That said, we’re looking at everything new on the horizon to consider disruptive and unexpected approaches to engage audiences and join up new brand experiences. For example, we’re particularly interested in developing new scope for social media, alternative uses for projection mapping and new contexts for interactive technology. There’s a big cauldron we keep a strong fire under within the studio, it has a habit of spitting out the most unexpected and exciting new thoughts.


Anyone who can see an opportunity, is brave enough to try something new, and has the courage to speak up when it’s not popular with the aim of improving an experience for the better should be listened to. It’s often as a result of the small, curious questions that an accepted approach can be challenged, and that brilliant experiences are made which can bring about new benefits.


Honestly... a pencil and a pad of paper and the huge open possibilities that can result from drawing, scribbling, noting, sketching and exploring - in terms of getting ideas down, sharing, discussing and iterating, it’s a technology that captures a moment quickly, in a way that is very direct, responsive and efficient.

Mark Beever 999 Design

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Bio

Dubbed the Willy Wonka of Design and Science, award-winning director and designer of experiences Nelly Ben Hayoun is a critical explorer, and a fearless, passionate provocateur.

In 2013, Icon Magazine nominated Ben Hayoun as one of the 50 international designers “shaping the future”; she is also the Designer of Experiences at the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), Head of Experiences at We Transfer, and a member of the Space Outreach and Education committee at the International Astronautical Federation. Wired magazine awarded Nelly Ben Hayoun with a WIRED Innovation fellowship for her work to date and its ‘significant impact on the world ‘.

Ben Hayoun previously collaborated with Beck, Bobby Womack, Damon Albarn, Maywa Denki, Bruce Sterling and Penguin Café in a musical collaboration that blasted music into space from a Japanese launch pad in August 2013; the International Space Orchestra (ISO).

Ben Hayoun is about to release her latest project Disaster Playground in June 2015.Disaster Playground is a large multi-platform project with a number of components including a feature film, an exhibition, an app is in the pipeline. The project investigates future outer space catastrophes and the design of procedures to manage and assess the risks of a potential asteroid of significant size hitting the earth. In her new documentary, Ben Hayoun works with NASA scientists, SETI scientists, at the United Nations and even the Whitehouse to unravel the complex nature of a real-life catastrophe. Disaster Playground’s feature film premiered at SXSW and was selected as one of the six highlights of SXSW while competing in Feature Documentary, Vision Category which promotes ‘audacious filmmakers, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape who demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking’.

At the Scottish Design Summit, Nelly will create a space for thoughts, debate and provocation around the sociological and critical impact of new technologies. She will define her design work and practice and demonstrate that the Human Condition should prevail on the technology. She will pledge for Greek Tragedy and Pathos and remind the audience that innovation often comes from multidisciplinary conflicts.

She will explain the challenges she faces in her own practice, trying to defy and design in the gravity of the hyppereal, a world where fiction is as truthful as reality. In this passionate keynote, she will share the complexity of her large scale projects (The International Space Orchestra and Disaster Playground) and introduce members of the public to her Salmon in the Silicon Valley philosophy.

Nelly Ben Hayoun

Q. Tell us in your own words about yourself and your work?

I am a designer of experiences. I design extreme experiences and engineer situations for the public to think critically and access the sublime of science. I like to think of the work as a generator for chaos and disorder and critical thinking. The more challenging the project, the more difficult it’ll be to create, the chances are I would be curious to make it happen!


I think the biggest barrier is the notion of ‘polite’ collaboration. There is a connection between art and science and design but they are not merging. The innovation comes from conflict between these disciplines, rather than working politely together. In my practice, when taking on a project, I’ll go into someone’s office and try to find a way to challenge the interviewee. If you’re an expert in your discipline, you’ll get annoyed when a designer challenges your research. The creativity comes from that conflict. If you don’t approach things this way, then you’re either not an expert or you’re not passionate enough and this will be reflected in the delivery; the product of that collaboration won’t be challenging or innovative.. My practice is often called ‘The Theatre of Cruelty’ which comes from Antonin Artaud!


Everyone’s looking for the one-liner that’s going to change the world [but] I wouldn’t formulate it like that. My role isn’t to define what the future is for the world as such. I am more interested in looking at specific technologies and problematics. If you want to make meaningful impact, you better relay focus on one scheme i.e. what is the future of nanotechnology, the community around it, the main actors etc…. and then research (find conflict) and come up with what could be the future of that. This notion of ‘what is the future of design’ is too abstract to me (and therefore a lazy way to try and change anything).

Q. What new or upcoming technology are you most excited about?

I think it’ll be a mix of two things; Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence. We’re moving towards more intrusive tech – pushing further wearables tech - and they’ll probably go more and more extreme, like implants in the brain. I wouldn’t be surprised if this happened in the next couple of years.

Q. Who are your design / tech / business heroes?

My design hero is Paola Antonelli (MOMA). It’s so interesting to see how she brings critical design to the world. Also my mentor, Prof. Anthony Dunne at the Royal College of Art London, the creator of critical design. He challenged the entire face of what design was about, back in 1999 by proposing an alternative way of ‘making design’ through storytelling and debates instead of straight forward products.

My film/ design are The Eames –They started to bring film into design, a real inspiration to how I work in my studio –

My business heroe would be WeTransfer. I’ve been in collaboration with them for 2 years and I think it’s fantastic to see how huge their digital audiences are – they have 66 million active users and are still growing – yet they’re still very human. They’re a small team who collaborate with those who are interested in what they do and respect design qualities, graphic qualities etc.


At the moment, I’ve been experimenting with Go Pro. It’s very exciting what you can do; it shoots in 4K, you can use it underwater and it fits in your pocket. I’m still figuring some things out but so far I’m very excited.

Back in the day, it was a Fisher Price tape recorder, which recorded your voice onto cassette. It was huge and scary and heavy, it only had four buttons but you could experiment in so many ways. I loved everything about it!

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Bio

The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture, is a visitor centre, exhibition space and events venue situated in the heart of Glasgow, just off the Style Mile. The Lighthouse acts as a beacon for the creative industries in Scotland and promotes design and architecture through a vibrant programme of exhibitions and events.

Formerly housing The Glasgow Herald, The Lighthouse was the first public commission completed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and is the perfect place to begin a Mackintosh tour of Glasgow. Please watch our video so we can take you on a tour of the building and show you what you can do when you visit.

History

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a young draughtsman in the architectural practice of Honeyman and Keppie when he designed the Mitchell Street building, which now houses The Lighthouse. The Herald Building was Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s first public commission.

The building, designed in 1895, was a warehouse at the back of the printing office of the Glasgow Herald. Mackintosh designed the tower - a prominent feature of the building - to contain an 8,000-gallon water tank. It was to protect the building and all its contents from the risk of fire.

The former Glasgow Herald building was renovated and launched as The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design and the City, a project suggested by the 1999 UK City of Architecture and Design bid committee. It took its new role after 15 years of silence, having stood unused since the Herald moved to new offices in the early eighties.

Glasgow firm Page & Park Architects were the principal consultancy responsible for the conversion and extension of the former Glasgow Herald building in Mitchell Street to accommodate a new centre for architecture and design.

The Lighthouse remains a successful visitor attraction and venue attracting people from all over the world. In 2012, The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture continues to re-emerge as a Design Centre and hub for the creative industries in Scotland.

Richard Hewitt MBA Lighthouse

Bio

As a leader in the military and local government, Richard has amassed extensive experience of leading, stewarding and sustaining complex collaboration and whole-system change across multiple agencies and sectors. Ably backed by high-level experience of global crisis planning and response, conceptual development, diplomacy and sensitive negotiation, he is comfortable in balancing competing objectives and managing risk to achieve practical and sustainable outcomes. With Taylor Haig, and now Thrive, Richard heads up the UK’s leading consultancy using design-led approaches to develop and support system change.

Q.Tell us, in your own words, about yourself and your work

I’ve now spent almost 30 years working in and around strategy, leadership and change. My military career set down firm foundations of an ability to thrive and succeed in challenging, high-tempo environments and my subsequent stint in local government has added an understanding for leading or stewarding through complex situations in more conventional, but not necessarily less adversarial, settings! Now, as Director of Thrive, I head up the UK’s leading consultancy using design-led approaches to develop and support system change.

Q. What areas of business do you feel should be invested in the most?

People…and their ability to think and act more creatively, collaboratively and compassionately.


People…and their ability to think and act more creatively, collaboratively and compassionately! I think it’s usually a case of finding new ways of working together, and of course, supporting all of this with the right technology.


I’d like to see more people becoming aware of the power of design thinking in dealing with our really challenging problems, and within that, I’d like to see more design-led leaders emerging.


Any technology that makes disadvantaged people’s lives better. Right now, the developments in exo-skeletons points to a very different future for some people.


Gerry Anderson…as a child, I think I spent more time in the world he created through Thunderbirds than the real one!


A battalion of paratroopers…doesn’t always do precisely what you tell it to do, but always gets spectacular results.

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Bio

Born on 15th September 1972, Jason Bruges is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer based in London. Jason’s work blends architecture with interaction design and uses a high-tech, mixed media palette to explore spectacle, time-based interventions and dynamic spatial experiences. He is passionate about creating site-specific pieces that engage people with their environments.

Jason Bruges Studio has become internationally renowned for producing innovative installations, interventions and ground breaking works.

The studio has recently finished working on a number of high profile projects including an art installation for number 10 Downing Street and the world’s highest art installation for the Shard on NYE 2014. Other recent works include a public artwork for a new development in Toronto, Canada, an interactive feature wall in Beijing, China and a New Media Lounge at San Diego International Airport. In 2012 the studio completed a unique award winning distraction artwork for Great Ormond Street Hospital in London for children on their route to surgery, a pioneering new digital arts project for Tate Modern, as well as a number of artworks for the London 2012 Olympics, including Aerial Dynamics for the Coca-Cola Beatbox pavilion and Fast, Faster, Fastest within the Olympic Park.


I am a multi-disciplinary artist based in London. My work blends architecture with interaction design and uses a high-tech, mixed media palette to explore spectacle, time-based interventions and dynamic spatial experiences. I am passionate about creating site-specific pieces that engage people with their environments.

I head up and own an art and design studio based in Hoxton. We have just finished a public artwork for a new development in Toronto, a New Media Lounge at San Diego International Airport and an artwork for a development in China; and a number of other pieces in Europe, North America and the Middle East.


The people that work within it. The architects, artists, lighting designers, interaction designers, industrial designers, creative technologists, visualisers, coders and wizards.


Having enough highly educated and trained people with the right skills in the right place. This challenge can be overcome with more direct links between industry and education institutes to increase and improve the pool of talent. See bit.ly/1IXJVQ6.


Possibly unrecognisable; with new design disciplines not yet borne, very different workflow – one which we are exploring now visualising and controlling future environments simultaneously in real time.


We are very excited by the miniaturisation of robots, actuators, physical computing and technology transfer between different unrelated industries.


Amongst my design heroes are Buckminster Fuller and Cedric Price who all contributed to the living breathing architectural world that I am interested in.


I think the miniature Sharp calculator that I was given when I was 8 years old – it was the first piece of digital technology I had ever owned and I spent numerous hours trying to find out what words I could spell on it and I am sure it has influenced our current interest in using reflective liquid crystal in art installations in the guise of an amplified deconstructed calculator screen.

Jason Bruges Jason Bruges Studio

With one of SE’s objectives being to help build globally competitive businesses, the importance of Innovation and Design is a key factor that can influence business growth.

If Innovation is the successful exploitation of ideas, then Design is an intrinsic part of that process, ensuring that everything is carried out with the customer, the environment and society in mind.

One of the most striking things about design is it’s not just about the idea - iconic buildings, home furnishings or new devices incorporating the latest technology: design encompasses all aspects of a product, process or service. Their form, structure, organisation and presentation even the customer’s perceptions of their purchase, delivery use and service and ultimately their view of the company.

Design is one of those aspects of business which can seem at the outset as a “nice to have”. For some, the urge is just to get on with the job and start making money, however good innovation management and incorporating design processes from the outset will save you time and money in the long run, and may even determine the success or failure of your venture. And it’s not just a one-time consideration. To stay competitive, you’ll need to be continually innovating and therefore continually designing. This means considering design as an intrinsic part of your business at every stage, informing strategy, marketing, development, sales and service - the whole ethos and perception of your business.

Come and speak to us at the market place to find out how SE can support design in your business through our Design Mentor support or newly launched By Design Vouchers.

Or visit www.scottish-enterprise.com

Scottish EnterpriseDesign & Innovation for Business

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In the midst of the Design Summit’s exciting programme of speakers and workshops, will be a dynamic exhibition space showcasing a range of innovative tech companies, design businesses, creative organisations, DiA Chiasma-funded projects, business support agencies and some of our Prize for Commercial Potential winners.

One of our prizewinners exhibiting is A Fox Wot I Drew Ltd, with their game ‘Baum’, a 2D platform puzzler inspired by, amongst others, Gustav Klimt’s mural ‘The Tree of Life’ and Sonic the Hedgehog which officially launches in August 2015.

The team, made-up of Dom Littler, Creative Director, Designer Kai Creedon and Operations Director Dan Allan, were the first to be awarded the Creative Scotland-funded prize in association with Abertay’s 7-week games development competition Dare to be Digital in 2014.

‘We saw a real opportunity as the prototypes at Dare are often the envy of a lot of the pro games studios.’ said DiA Business Partnership Manager, Brian McNicoll, ‘Design in Action decided to put a call out to the teams that we could provide funding to continue to develop their games.’

On awarding AFWID the prize, that was conceived to recognise the innovation, talent and hard work that is displayed by the Dare entries as well as assisting in the commercialisation process, Brian said: ‘We thought they’d created something amazing, and in such a short space of time, that could have real impact on the market.’

Part of the prize included space within the hotbed of new games talent in Abertay’s School of Arts, Media and Computer Games and industry support and advice from Brian, who set-up an initial meeting with Dundee designer, illustrator and co-founder of Creative Dundee and Fleet Collective, Lyall Bruce.

Speaking of his involvement, Lyall said: ‘I was contacted through DiA to be involved as they were looking for someone who could help with an early-level games development company to brand themselves and to work on the game and marketing.’

‘I actually remembered seeing the game at Dare to be Digital and it stood out to me as it was quite different to what a lot of other people were doing so I was on board.’

Officially starting on 25th August 2014, the team started the ‘painful creative process’ of developing the original version, creating more Baum levels and perfecting the gameplay.

Their time with Lyall at Sooper Double D has focused on the overall identity, marketing and brand for their new company, including creating their logo. He said: ‘I’ve been learning a bit about the game process and they’ve learnt a bit about the branding process!’

Now, almost a year later, they’re ready to officially launch and will do so at this year’s Dare ProtoPlay in Dundee on 13th August, an apt way to display to 2015’s competitors what hard work and focus coupled with industry and creative support can achieve.

‘I genuinely feel there is vision and passion behind what we’re doing’ says Design Director Kai.

Dan agrees, ‘We’re hoping that the quality of the game will speak to people in the games industry who are looking for a talented team to make products for them.’

When asked about the future of AFWID, Dom admitted: ‘It sounds clichéd but I’d like to get to the stage where people are playing the games that I’m making. It’s that simple!’

Baum will launch at Dare ProtoPlay, which is running from 13th – 16th August, Caird Hall, Dundee. www.daretobedigital.com/212_Dare-ProtoPlay-.html

For more information on Lyall Bruce, visit www.sooperdoubled.com

BaumA Design in Action / Dare Prize for Commercial Potential Case Study written by Louise Jack

Designing Entrepreneur Societies Challenges for the next generation of design-led business support programmesSaturday 23 May 2015, Dovecot Studios

8:30 - 9:00 Registration and coffee

9:00-9.20 Welcome by Chris Fremantle, DIA |Co-Investigator | Gray’s School of Art, RGU

9:20-9:50 Presentation 1



10:50-11:00 Refreshment break



12:00-13:00 Lunch

13:00-13:15 Reflections by Chris Fremantle and Dr Nil Gulari| Research Fellow, DIA | Gray’s School of Art, RGU | Dr Nil Gulari shares her PhD research findings

13:15-15:15 Workshop- Dr Nil Gulari and Chris Fremantle Imagining the future of design support through metaphors

15:15-15:30 Refreshment break

15:30-16:30 Co-developing an action plan for the future of design support and initiating partnership

16:30-16:45 Final remarks –Closing the event by Chris Fremantle

Agenda

The final day of the Scottish Design Summit will be held at the Dovecot Studios and led by Gray’s School of Art. This exclusive academic seminar brings key design researchers to collaborate and assess the current state of thinking on design-led business support programmes Europe-wide, mapping the challenges and exchanging knowledge with a view to strengthen co-operation and a potential Horizon2020 bid.

The speakers of the day include:

• Anna Whicher, Head of Policy, PDR, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Design Wales

• Aija Freimane, Academy Art Latvia

• Maris Takk, Estonian Design Centre

• Professor Ozlem Er , Istanbul Technical University

• Ruth-Helene Melioranski, Estonian Academy of Arts

We are going to address the following questions:

• What are the best ways to assist SMEs for innovation with design?

• How can design support programmes be more sustainable?

• How can we evidence the role of design in business success?

The event provides an international forum for discussion and further development of design support programmes for businesses and an excellent opportunity to leverage our knowledge, to share our experiences and to reinforce our networks. Presentations and subsequent discussions will be considered for a joint journal publication with all participants co-authoring.

The Scottish Design Summit Team would like to thank: the AHRC, the Design Council, Scottish Enterprise, Creative Edinburgh, University of Dundee, Lindsay Perth, FlyBoy Creative Caroline Parkinson, the EICC, the Warburton Gallery, G&V Hotel, Dovecot Studios, Lindsay Perth and Sophie Menzies. Special thanks to our speakers for all their cooperation and enthusiasm for the event.

Programme Editor: Louise Jack Programme Designer: Angela Dunphy Event Manager: Dawn Campbell

www.designinaction.com / [email protected] / 01382 385361

© Design in Action 2015

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